Blue Guardian
by Crazyman321
Summary: It's been twelve years since the end of the Great Shinobi War and though many think the world has healed from the tragedy some things just remain twisted. Naruto is now beginning to lead his own genin squad, but are they too much for even him to handle?
1. The Stargazer and the Outcast

Alright, hope you guys enjoy my newest story. It will be heavily OC based, but will still feature plenty of characters we all know and love (or hate) from the original series. This first chapter was originally going to be split into two, but I decided against it. Now, this is a remake of one of my previous stories so certain parts may have a different style of writing to them due to that being about a year ago. This first chapter should be the only one to do that however.

Regardless, I hope that you will read, enjoy, and tell me what you think in the reviews. Also, below you'll see something called "cover art" it's really nothing more than an added extra for fun, sort of like in a manga when there's an illustration before the chapter starts.

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**Blue Guardian**

**Chapter 1: The Outcast and the Stargazer

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**Cover Art: **A boy with messy blue hair is resting on top of a hill. His fingers are interlocked behind his head as he peacefully stares at the stars in the night sky above him. The clearing is empty and he seems to be drifting to sleep while doing so.

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_It has been 12 years since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Although the casualties were high, the Allied Shinobi Forces managed to put an end to Akatsuki's Eye of the Moon Plan and restore order to the world. The captured Biju managed to escape and began to cause destruction across the lands, but the Allied Forces put an end to this and resealed them. Even after the defeat of the Biju however there was a trace of their return left in the land. _

_This scar left upon the land is now a pitch black wasteland that remains an enigma to the Five Nations to this day. Fearing the worst, each nation took part in sealing away the land dubbed as Yomi to a hidden location leaving nothing but a massive chasm where it once resided. Since the Allied Forces split life has gone back to how it once was with disputes, small scale wars, and the like._

A man in a chunin vest entered a rather noisy classroom. His stroll inside was rather nonchalant as he shuffled through a stack of papers at the main desk before finding what he had been searching for. His dark hair was beginning to show thin lines of gray, but the most noticeable feature about this shinobi was the scar going across the bridge of his nose. Clearing his throat a few times he prompted them to quiet down a bit, but received no response from the children.

Growing rather fed up by this point he took matters into his own hands. By means of an unknown jutsu, his voice was suddenly projected everywhere in the classroom and yelling in a vicious tone, "Everyone shut your mouths!" It seemed almost instantly that the preteens got quiet and attentive in their seats.

"I'm proud to announce that everyone has passed the academy's genin examination and will now become shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village." The class erupted into cheers until the man shut them down again. "For new genin it's important for you to work on teamwork and other basic skills so you'll each be assigned squads of three." He turned to the blackboard and began to write the names and squad assignments.

"Now, are there any que…" Before the scarred man could even get the entire sentence out he got complaints across the room on the team assignments. He sighed and loudly ignored the bombardment of questions with one of his own. "And does anyone know where Hideo is?"

Everyone in the class couldn't do much, but respond with a 'no'. "Afraid not Iruka-Sensei." A girl spoke up. The chuunin sighed and wrote something down. "Well then, due to urgent matters you will not be assigned Jounin sensei for another week due to urgent matters. You can basically call this a free week." Iruka said and smiled at the children, but soon found himself in an empty classroom. A visible vein of anger bulged from the chunin's head.

In the office of the Hokage a man sat behind a large wooden desk covered in stacks of paperwork. His head was leaning back in the chair with a red and white hat covering his face. The hat had the insignia for fire, one that marked this individual as Hokage. A few moments of peaceful sleep passed until he was awakened by a knock at the door. "Hokage-sama, the shinobi you requested have arrived."

"Yes, yes, let them in." Responded the Fire Shadow as he sat up in his seat. After a moment the door opened and three shinobi entered. The first was a male in typical Jonin attire of a flak jacket and a dark blue jumpsuit underneath. On his left arm was both his village headband as well as a symbol of a black circle with a line going through its center on the sleeve of his clothing. His hair was black and in a spike ponytail at the top. As he entered a lit cigarette was held in his lips.

The next was a female with dark blue hair stopping just past her shoulders and wearing an open flak jacket. Underneath this she wore a flowing lavender robe that stopped just past waistline she also wore black pants and sandals. Besides all of this however, the most interesting feature about here were her pure white eyes however.

The final member to enter the room was a blonde with hair reaching to his chin in a rather messy fashion. His eyes were a light blue in color and on his face one could see marking that resembled whiskers. Unlike most other Jonin, his flak jacket was bright orange and underneath it he wore a short sleeved white top that ended in black flame like patterns on the sleeves.

"Good to see the three of you. Shikamaru, Hinata, Naruto." The Hokage said in a rather nonchalant fashion as he removed his hat and pushed away some of the paperwork. This man had tall gray hair and was dressed in nothing more than the usual Hokage robes. The only other distinguishable features about him was the mask covering the lower portion of his face and a leaf headband resting across his left eye.

Shikamaru was the first to speak up. "This is such a drag, being dragged into Kakashi's office to handle some apparently urgent business." He finished the last bit of his cigarette and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Do you have a job for us?" Hinata questioned. The gray haired ninja simply shook his head and pulled out three glass orbs, placing one on his desk in front of each shinobi.

"Somewhat a job." A mist formed at the center of the orbs that soon split into three different images in each one. "These will be your genin teams. I want you to observe them for the next week. Although a large number of students recently passed the exams, I'm fairly certain these nine will be this year's rookies." The discussion continued and as Hinata and Shikamaru departed the room with their respective viewing orbs the blonde was the only one still in the room.

"I designed your team specifically for you to be their Jonin, Naruto" Kakashi spoke, reclining in his seat a bit, "Though you're probably wondering why."

Naruto nodded his head in response. "Can you make it quick, Ichiraku is having a special today and I can't miss out on it." The Fire Shadow sighed and pointed to each individual in the viewing orb. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you who the first two are. Hideo Tekkou and Kiyomi Shoda." Naruto's eyes widened at the sound of these names, but he soon settled himself again. "The last is a bit of an enigma, but not as well known as the first two, Shiden Katsutoshi."

"This was unexpected, Kakashi-sensei." Said the jonin, finally picking up the orb and looking at each individual student. Kakashi remained silent and pulled out a red book and began to glance over it.

"Well, if anyone can handle it, I'm sure it's you, Naruto. Well, that's all." The blonde jonin laughed a bit on his way to the door. "It's been so long since the last issue of that perverted series and you're still rereading them?"

Kakashi simply chuckled without moving his eye from the page in front of him. "Nothing beats the classics."

Back in town a young girl was walking through the streets of town. Her hair was dark black in color and reaching straight down to her shoulder. She wore a sleeveless red top and black skirt with long black stocking reaching up to her thighs. On her forehead was a leaf forehead protector. As the girl quietly made her way down the city streets men and women looked at her with disgust. Some even threw rotten fruit and the more extreme went on to throw glass bottles that she narrowly avoided.

Speaking to herself quietly, she said, "It's okay Kiyomi, this street is always like this." Her words were mumbled and said in a panicked tone, regardless of what words left her mouth though it seemed it wasn't changing the situation. Body shaking, she suddenly burst out into a full on run down the street.

"I hate this place, I hate it, I hate it." She wiped her tears away and kept running. "Why can't it all just go away?" She came to a stop and looked up at the Hokage monument, now complete with a sixth head of the Copy Ninja. The sight seemed to cause a change within her, as she came to a stop and began to walk towards the landform.

Hours had passed, and that same night Kiyomi stood on top of the Hokage monument and was looking down at the village. Though she hated the place with such intensity the child couldn't help but feel so attached to it at the same time. She shook those thought from her head and looked down upon the rest of the city. This was the final goodbye; she had had enough from this world. _"Maybe the next world will be better."_ She smiled while saying this, but the smile was only to help fight back tears. The young girl raised one foot over the edge then leaped off with the other going for a dive to the town below her.

"What the hell are you doing!" An invisible voice screamed out from the darkness as she was grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled up. As the genin turned around she seemed to be disgusted by who it was. "Oh, it's you, Hideo." She spoke in a cold manner. The one known as Hideo was a boy around her age with tall, dark blue and messy hair. He wore a white top and blue trousers and on his hands were black fingerless gloves. On the top of each glove was a steel plate with the Leaf insignia on it.

"As much as you skip classes it's a surprise you managed to pass the genin test." She said coyly though the fellow shinobi seemed to just stare in a displeased manner. "Thanks for trying to play the whole noble act and saving me and all, but I don't need it. I jumped off on purpose."

"Why would you do that?" He asked in a puzzled tone.

The girl was prepared with a response however, one rather cold and lifeless, "Why wouldn't I…This village doesn't need me and I definitely don't need it."

Hideo scratched his head for a moment, seemingly searching for the words before starting. "Don't take your life so lightly. I'm sure there's somebody in this village that you mean the world to."

This time, not even bothering to respond she simply leaned backwards and attempted to fall from the edge again, but Hideo was quick and managed to pull her up again. This time however he made sure to stand in her path to be sure she wouldn't attempt another suicide. "Damnit, Kiyomi, give me a straight up response."

"Move, this has nothing to do with you!" She screamed back as her eyes began to tear up and she was on the floor. Hideo sighed lightly and took a seat next to the weeping preteen.

"Since I'm to stubborn to stand aside and let you do this and you're too stubborn to let me help you. I'll make a deal with you. If I can show you a reason why to live before the end of this week you have to stop doing this nonsense. I'll get you to admit your will to live.!"

"What if you can't give me a reason to live by then?"

"Then I'll jump off with you." Hideo smiled and gave a thumbs up, but Kiyomi didn't really know what to think of this situation.

"Fine." She finally gave in.

"Good first is tonight's session." Hideo leaned back until he was lying across the ground and stared at the moonlit sky.

"Why would laying on the ground make me want to stay here?" Even though she asked she still lied down next to the blue haired genin before getting a response.

"The reason I was up here to begin with was because I love to come up here some days and just stare at the stars. It really makes you think about things."

Kiyomi didn't understand a word of it but spent that whole night with Hideo staring at the moon and stars. It was a rather silent night at that, with Hideo saying several things and getting little to no response from her.

At the end of the fifth day Hideo and Kiyomi were back on the monument, in the same spot gazing at the stars just as they had done all of the previous nights as well. "The week is nearly up and I still don't feel any better than I did then. I still don't get this stupid star watching thing either."

Hideo ignored her and continued speaking, "Man, doesn't that one look like that one guy's huge eyebrows?" He pointed to a cluster of stars and didn't stop speaking. _"She's right though, I've made no progress in all of this time. Plays, the forests outside of the village, the movie, the festival in the next village over. All of it, no effect. Guess tomorrow is my last shot."_

Seeing his talking having no effect Hideo kept his mouth shut for the moment and remained fixated on the constellations above him. Well, that was until he heard a small chuckle coming from his side.

"It kind of does look like them now that I think about it." The blue haired genin's lips began to curl into a smile. _"It's not much, but it's progress."_

It was the next night and Hideo had the fellow genin blindfolded as they approached a certain area in the forest. "You know tonight is the final night right. Whatever you have planned better be better than some stupid stars."

"If this one doesn't work then nothing will." After several minutes more of walking Hideo removed the cloth from her eyes. The young kunoichi's eyes sparkled with a glow Hideo had never seen before as she set her eyes on a large house made completely out of fine wood and astoundingly detailed. Surrounding the house would have to be the largest assortment of plant flowers, fruits and vegetables Kiyomi had ever seen. To put it simply the place was beautiful, almost like magic. "Come on in."

Hideo lead the way and opened the door. The inside was even more beautiful than out as finely crafter furniture of different kinds was spread around the first floor of the home, everything completely made of wood. "Where did you get this from?"

The boy opened his mouth to say something but paused for a moment. "A friend. And because of that, this place is now my treasure." Deciding it was time to get to the center of this problem Hideo turned to Kiyomi and asked the question straight forward. "Now answer my question, why do you want to die?"

Kiyomi's smile quickly faded as she began to turn away from Hideo like the many other times when he had asked over the week. "What's the point of staying in a place you're not wanted? A place where people hate you for things not under you control?"

"Jumping off of a mountain isn't going to solve your problems Kiyomi; you have to face them head on!" Hideo retorted showing almost know sympathy."

"I knew you wouldn't understand. You're just like the rest of this hellhole. I don't blame them for hating me though. I hate myself as well. I killed many important to them and I killed people close to me as well. At least this way I won't hurt anyone else."

"_Hm, she isn't taking the easy way out of life's obstacles. She hopes for the safety of other as well. But does she realize it yet?" _ "Kiyomi-"

Hideo was cut off as the door to his humble home went crashing down and a man entered with a katana and flailed it around the room wildly. "This village has had enough of a demon bitch like you! Luckily I managed to track you and your buddy there to this little shack" By his appearance and voice it was obvious the man was drunk. His random and uncoordinated attacks were directed mostly at Kiyomi, and though it would be rather easy to move, she remained in place.

"Sorry Hideo, I know the week isn't up yet, but I'm tired of it. Nice try though." She smiled at him and waited for death's blade.

"Don't be an idiot!" Hideo stood in front of her with a rage burning in his eyes. He raised a wooden chair in front of his body to block the attack but was surprised at how easily the guy managed to slice through it and leave deep gash across his chest. Blood splattered on to the floor and walls as the genin fell to his knees.

The black haired genin slowly blacked away from the bloody scene. "Why did you jump in the way l-l-like that? Maybe you're the r-real idiot here." She stammered nervously. Hideo only chuckled a bit.

"Heh, this can't be too bad. I told you I'd die with you if I failed on my promise. Think of this as just me going out first." The drunken assailant merely pushed the bleeding boy over and stabbed towards Kiyomi again. "Damn kids, always getting in my way." This time was different however as the girl suddenly swayed to the left to avoid the attack and punched the man in the gut.

Although not very noticeable, one could see her eyes turning a blood red color. "I guess if one person is willing to die for me and would go as far doing all of this to convince me to stay here, then I have some worth. That said, I'm tired of running from these problems, I'll try my best to face them head on like he suggested." The attacker gathered himself again; due to his unbalanced state the punch had knocked him on to the ground.

As he prepared for another attack however a bloody Hideo was standing on his feet and in front of Kiyomi. "Guess I just won the deal."

The girl crossed her arms and looked to the side. "I don't know what you're talking about. I could still kill myself not if I want to." Hideo laughed aloud and patted her on the back. "The deal was that I'd show you a good reason to live before the end of the week. And I'm sure you just admitted to the witnessing of that event."

The genin didn't respond, but Hideo only continued to smile as he turned to face the approaching sword carrier. "Now, there was one more part to that deal. You know what it is, now say it"

Kiyomi looked away and frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do, now say it!"

"Fine, I want to live." She spoke in a mouse like manner. Hideo frowned and poked her in the head a few times. "You know that wasn't good enough," the genin said mockingly. As the two of them had their back and forth, the sword carrier was drawing near, ready to end this.

"Fine…I want to live!" She shouted, prompting Hideo to smile triumphantly.

"Now that's what I wanted to hear." As the blade drew near Hideo ducked down and struck the weapon upwards with the plates on his gloves. With this move the man had left his body completely open to attack. "Go to hell." Pulling his fist back, Hideo seemed to be preparing something before finally snapping it forward again and hitting the drunk in the gut. The impact of the blow was enough to send the guy off of his feet and soaring back and through the wall of the house.

He now lied on the ground outside, completely unconscious and blood running from his mouth. Kiyomi was shocked that the genin could have that much force in a single blow. Looking at him though, there were tears streaming down his face. "Wait, why are you crying now?"

"I wanted to knock him out, but I didn't want to bust a hole in my wall!"

At the same time all of this was going on, a certain blonde Jonin was watching the events unfold in a crystal ball like object. "Haha, this team should be more fun than I thought."

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Alright, that concludes the first chapter, hope you guys enjoyed. Second chapter will be up next week hopefully. Now all I can really ask is that you click the little review box below. :^D

Anybody who's a fan of One Piece may have also noticed a slight similarity in the ending portion of the story. Oddly enough, it wasn't planned; I just got to that part and decided to go for it.

Last but not least, have a great Thanksgiving, eat until you puke!


	2. Team 7 Reborn

Alright, time for the second chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Also, as a small note I'll point out that this story will probably be AU for the most part. And by that I mean I'll decide what from the original story actually happened or not. It probably won't be much, but seeing as this is a planned out story and things could change based on new manga chapters I figured I'd point it now. Anyway, let's start the show.

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**Blue Guardian**

**Chapter 2: Team 7 Reborn

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**Cover Art: **Hideo is standing near a wall with a can of spray paint in hand. He looks towards the camera with a smile as the wall behind him has a graffiti spelling out his name with stars in the background. Kiyomi is standing beside him sweat dropping.

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"Well, this sucks…"

This was the voice of Hideo as he sat in his desk at the academy, head pressed against the top of it. Sitting a few more desks over to his right was Kiyomi who looked at him a short moment, but said nothing before returning to a magazine she was reading. The last in the room was sitting a couple of rows behind them.

He had silver hair and was dressed in a black cloak that covered his entire upper body and stopped at the knees. His pants were dark gray and on his feet the boy wore usual shinobi sandals. He looked down to Hideo and grimaced. "It's a surprise just to see you in this class in general, considering how often you skip class." He said in a sarcastic manner while reclining in his seat.

The blue haired genin shrugged and started drawing on his desk. "Hey, I still passed, didn't I, Shiden?" The ninja in black nodded but continued with his sarcasm. "Yeah, despite your mediocre skill in ninjutsu even for genin standards." Hideo was on his feet by this point and looking at his new team member with a smile.

"You just love bustin' my chops don't you?" Hideo left his desk behind and walked over to the doorway, placing a blackboard eraser at the top of the sliding door. "You make it way too easy, and what are you doing?"

A job completed, Hideo got back to his seat and smiled. "Well, this guy ended up late and we all had to sit in here and wait for him. I've been dead bored this whole time so I figure I may as well have some laughs when he actually gets here." Both Kiyomi and Shiden sweat dropped and the black haired girl began to speak.

"You know this guy is a Jonin right? I doubt he'd fall for a dumb trick like that." Kiyomi said in a dead tone and returned to her magazine without a word. Shiden simply nodded in response. Hideo waved them off however and stared at the door as he heard foot steps approaching. Holding a finger to his lips he told the two of them to hush.

From outside of the door they could all hear a voice. "Sorry I'm late, had to take care of some last minute preparations." As the door began to slide open and a blonde head poked in Hideo started to laugh uncontrollably.

"I told you he'd fall for-" He didn't managed to finish that statement however as the eraser went flying across the room and into his mouth. Caught off guard, the boy fell from his chair and began hacking. This caused Shiden to laugh a bit and even Kiyomi to crack a smirk for a moment.

Stepping into the room was the blond in the orange flak jacket and whisker marks, none other than, Naruto Uzumaki. He looked to the desk where Hideo was getting back on his feet and threw the eraser to the ground. "You didn't have to go (cough) that far (cough)!" The genin shot back, a puff of white smoke escaped his lips with every word that made the Jonin chuckle a bit.

"Hehe, I tried that same trick on my sensei when I was your age; I guess history enjoys repeating itself. Luckily he didn't do that to me." Stepping back out of the door he motioned with his hands for the three of them to follow. "Meet me on the roof in about 5 minutes." The three looked at each other for a moment with confused expressions.

Once everyone was on the roof Naruto eyed them up and down before talking. "Alright, all the other genin are doing this right now, so…" The blonde soon found himself cut off by Shiden.

"Actually, the other genin did this like forty five minutes ago." The rookie said in a sarcastic and matter-of-fact sort of tone that made Naruto eye twitch in annoyance.

"Whatever. Anyway, I want each of you to give some basic information on yourselves. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, etc. Starting with you, the prankster." Hideo looked around for a moment not really knowing who the blonde was talking about.

"Oh, me? I'm Hideo Tekkou. I like to have fun, I dislike strict rules, my hobbies are star gazing and skipping class and my goal is to become strong enough to protect things with worth to me, including this village, to be greater than the Hokage. A life lived to the fullest with no regrets." Naruto raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. _"Considering his past I didn't expect this."_

"Strong enough to protect this village and greater than the Hokage? Do becoming Hokage one day is your own goal?"

The blue haired teen shook his head. "Hell no. What kind of loser would aspire for a lame job like that?" Naruto's eyebrow twitched again as he held back the urge to get up and say and/or do something he shouldn't. Hideo continued, "If anything I'd go beyond the title of Kage. I'd rather be a legend."

Naruto simply nodded and took mental note of this while shifting his gaze to the next in line, Kiyomi.

"My name is Kiyomi Shoda. I don't particular like anything, though I've recently found myself looking at the stars before going to bed. I dislike prejudice and I don't have any actual hobbies. My goal is to find a certain someone."

"And what do you intend to do once you find that person?" Naruto couldn't but ask as his eyes narrowed on the girl. She looked away for a moment and returned this gaze towards him. "I don't know yet." The Jonin simply nodded in response and finally pointed to Shiden.

"My name is Shiden Katsutoshi. My likes include things such as the arts and beauty. My dislikes are those that are ignorant and crude." With this remark he looked over to Hideo who, upon noticing this, began to pull up his sleeves as a visible vein of anger began to show on his forehead. "My hobbies include tinkering and for goals, I'd rather not openly say them here if that's okay, Sensei." The blonde once again nodded.

With introductions complete, Naruto stood to his feet and looked over the three of them. _"Well, that was interesting to say the least."_

"Wait, shouldn't you introduce yourself too?" This comment came from Hideo. Naruto smiled. "I guess you're right. Alright then, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are ramen and I dislike the cook time for making ramen. My hobbies include going to Ichiraku where one of my old sensei took me pretty often. My goal is, believe it or not, to be Hokage."

The three genin simply sweat dropped and exchanged glances while they all thought in unison. _"All he did was talk about ramen except for mentioning being Hokage."_ Naruto was preparing to speak but got cut off when Hideo began to speak again.

"Weren't up to par for the job?" He said in a joking tone that got him a hit in the back of the head from Shiden. "Have some respect for our new sensei."

Naruto shook his head and responded, "You sure do love to hear yourself talk, huh? But no, I was actually offered the job a couple of years ago, but declined because I wanted to have the experience of leading a team of my own and passing on my will of fire to this generation. Anyway, if there are no more interruptions I'll explain our first group exercise."

"_He's that strong?" _Kiymoi thought to herself. Hideo and Shiden didn't seem to catch on to this however as they were bickering over something. Once the two of them quieted down Naruto began speaking again.

"Tomorrow we'll be playing a game of sorts." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out small sheets of paper and gave one to each genin. "It will be at the location listed here. Bring all of your equipment and be prepared to fight to your fullest. I probably shouldn't say this, but of the thirty or so academy students that passed in your class, only three teams will become genin. Thus, this 'game' has a failure rate of about seventy percent. Well, see you tomorrow." That said, he disappeared in a puff of smoke that made Shiden narrow his eyes on where the blonde was moments ago.

"_Hm, that wasn't even him. It was a shadow clone."_

Hideo jumped back to his feet and began to walk away. "So passing that test at the academy still wasn't enough? Guess I'll just have to kick his ass and prove my worth to be genin." Shiden sighed and turned to Kiyomi who seemed to have already left.

The next morning they all had gathered at the designated location. It was a relatively large space with a stone monument towards the center and three wooden stumps off to the side. Walking over to one of them without a saying a word, the blonde Jonin placed an alarm clock down and began to mess with the settings.

When done he spun around to look at the faces of the anxious genin. "Alright, I set the clock to go off at noon. That's the time limit you have to finish this exercise. Tied to my belt are two bells. In order to pass you'll need to get one of them. Now, I'm sure you can all do basic math and know that one of you will not be able to get a bell, whoever doesn't will be sent back to the academy."

Kiyomi frowned and raised her hand. "Doesn't sound very fair, why should only one of us go back to the academy while the other two get to pass?" Smiling Naruto shook his head. "Not true, although it's guaranteed at least one of you will have to fail there's no such guarantee on two passing. To put it simply, it's possible for all three of you to fail."

Hideo punched his fist into his open palm and grinned. "I like a good challenge. Besides, this is a good chance to see how I stack up against a Jonin. No offense, but you don't look like much." Shiden slapped the boy on the back of the head again.

"Seems like you're all ready. Begin!" At the sound of this the three genin scattered. Well, except for one of them. Naruto smiled. "Why am I not surprised that it's you?"

The blue haired genin got into a fighting stance. Already in their hiding spots amongst the trees and shrubbery Shiden and Kiyomi sweat dropped. _"Doesn't he know the basics of being a shinobi?" _She thought to herself, similar thoughts going through the mind of the boy in black.

Naruto pretty much said something similar to Hideo's face. "I skip class pretty often. Guess I missed that day." Suddenly, the genin leaped forward, already on the attack.

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Alright, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know I mimicked the original series a bit but that's not what it's meant to be. This chapter was more of a déjà vu or nostalgia sort of thing. Future chapters will go in a very different direction.

Anyway, review and I'll see you next chapter~


	3. Hideo's Battle

**Edit: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, you wouldn't believe what I've been through with internet issues. As a make up for that however, I have a great weekend in store for you. Triple update! So each day this weekend (starting with tonight) I'll be uploading the new chapter I had pretyped for this story during my down time. I wanted to do more than three chapters, but at the same time I wanted to give my other stories equal attention as well, so some sacrifices had to be made. Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy and will review each chapter :^D**

Alright, my exams are done with and winter break has begun. Wonder how many time I update this and my other stories before it's done. Also, for those who have asked, I don't really need any OCs. If you have ideas or anything then go ahead and send them in if you like.

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**Blue Guardian**

**Chapter 3: Hideo's Battle

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**Cover Art: **A barrel of monkeys bursts open and amongst the group is Hideo. One of them is clinging on to the back of his shirt while another is on his head and pulling his face into odd shapes.

"If you were going to stay back and fight then you could have at least tried something that involved more thought than this."

Hideo jumped forward and attempted to punch the Jonin in the chest but Naruto easily sidestepped the attack. The genin began to follow this up with an uppercut that was also avoided. Next was a round kick to the side, though instead of blocking the blonde jumped above it and planted a kick of his own to the boy's chest that sent him sliding across the grass on the training field and creating a gap in between them.

"You predicted every single one of my moves. Guess I should expect that much from a Jonin, right?" Naruto nodded and ducked down as several shuriken went whizzing just over his head. Before he knew it however Hideo was upon him and threw another kick his way, this one being an Axe kick from above.

Crossing his arms above his head, Naruto blocked the attack and pushed upward sending the genin into the air. As he touched the ground once again the blue haired boy threw down a few smoke bombs for cover and soon afterwards four of him emerged from the smoke. "I may suck at ninjutsu, but I have enough skill to do the basic academy moves like this."

Naruto grinned and simply ran through two of them before grabbing the real Hideo and throwing him across the field by his arm. The genin landed on his feet and skidded a bit before coming to a stop.

"How could you tell which one was the real me so fast?" Naruto simply shook his head.

"It's pretty simple really. The academy's clone technique is great for helping genin get a feel for ninjutsu and if used correctly can prove helpful at times. The problem with this technique is that they're simply illusions. They have no physical effect on the world such as leaving steps in the grass and dirt as they ran towards me or even leaving a shadow." Hideo cracked his knuckles and rushed in again with more attacks.

"_That guy, he talks a big game but this is all he has to show for it. And to think I had expected more." _Kiyomi sighed from her hiding spot grabbed several kunai.

Shiden on the other hand continued to watch intently. _"Come on Hideo, if you're not going to do any better for your own sake of getting the bells, then at least push this guy a bit further so I can better assess him." _

As Hideo engaged the Jonin in close range again he found his punches and kicks to be blocked or avoided as before and suddenly stopped right in front of Naruto. His legs widened into a deeply rooted stance as he breathed in and out in a calm manner. One arm was pulled back to his side in a fist while the other was held directly in front of him.

Kiyomi's eyes widened at the sight of this. _"It's just like when he fought that guy in his house. Though this time he seems to be focusing more."_

Naruto simply shook his head once again. "Unless you can find a way to preoccupy or restrain your opponent long enough an attack that requires all this time is useless." The blonde threw a kick at Hideo's stomach in an attempt to push him back much like before but it had no effect. In fact, the blue haired boy didn't even move an inch.

Without saying a word, Hideo shot his held back fist forward and hit Naruto in the chest and sent him rocketing back. He smiled proudly but that smile soon faded as the Jonin's body turned into a block of wood that hit the tree a few meters away and was smashed to pieces. Moments later Naruto jumped down from the tree that was hit and looked to the genin.

"_What the hell was that? When I hit him his body felt like it was made of stone. And all that power in that punch, that's way above genin level." _Smiling again Naruto made a single hand seal. "That was pretty impressive. And because you showed me something interesting I guess I'll do the same. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

In a puff of smoke there were now three Narutos with two of them obviously being clones. Hideo looked at them then at their shadows. "Woah, those things are real bodies. A step above the academy technique." The genin rushed at the them and pulled out a kunai.

First he swung the blade at the left one's stomach but it was suddenly countered by the edge of the clones own kunai. The two seemed to be in a power struggle but Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and the clone jumped back, narrowly avoiding a punch from Hideo's other fist. The other clone threw a sweep at his feet that the boy managed to leap over and attempt a swing at this clone's head but that attack was avoided by leaning back followed by an upward kick to Hideo's chin that sent him into the air.

He fell back down on his back with a heavy thud but soon rolled back to his feet. "I was so close too."

"You seem to learn pretty quick."

"Well, you said I wouldn't be successful without preoccupying or restraining you." He then rushed in again.

"_Guess he might prove me wrong. Using the power struggle during their kunai clash as a cover up for his real motive. Not a strategy that requires a lot of brain power but something unexpected nonetheless. _Shiden grinned gleefully while writing something in a notebook.

Back on the field Hideo was being pushed back by one of the clones but countered by throwing a Kunai that the clone easily avoided by jumping up. The blue haired boy smiled and threw another Kunai. This one however hit the back of the first and redirected upward and managed to strike the clone in the back causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke.

The second one seemed to be deflected off in a random direction as well and hit the second clone too, causing it to vanish. Once the smoke cleared however Naruto was nowhere to be found. "He must be hiding. Probably in the trees again…"

"Well, you're half right." Before the genin had a chance to react a hand reached from below the ground and pulled him under. Soon enough he was only a head sticking out from the dirt. Naruto stood above him and smiled.

"Well, I think I've spent enough time with you. Hopefully our encounter enlightened you on a few things. Try to not stay down there for too long though. You guys are still on a time limit you know."

"Wait, where the hell are you going? We're not done here!"

"Going to go look for the other two. Guess if you manage to break out you can come find me." With that said Naruto disappeared into the forest.

A bit of time had soon passed and Naruto now found himself deep in the forest. This area however was a bit more clear and although he was still completely surrounded by trees and plant life there was a small lake sitting in front of him. "Show yourself. I can feel your presence." Sure enough someone leaped out from the bushes. The blue haired genin from before. The Jonin smiled. "You did manage to get out pretty fast, but in the end it's just you again Hideo."

A vein bulged from the blue hair's forehead. "What's hat supposed to mean? I'm here to get one of those bells!" Hideo tossed a couple of smoke bombs to the ground and much like before he ran out of the cover with three bodies; all of them running straight at the Jonin.

"The same strategy again?" Naruto moved forward as well but his eyes widened once he caught sight of something disturbing. _"These clones, they're leaving foot prints in the dirt!"_

He looked to the cloud of smoke that was now clearing and could see the blue haired teen standing there and going through hand seals. "Suiton: Mizurappa!" As the seals were finished a powerful surge of water blasted out of the boy's mouth and headed Naruto's way.

He attempted a dodge but soon found the clones all wrapped around his body and holding him in place. The moment before impact however Hideo soon found his attack hitting once of the clones and causing it burst into a quantity of water.

Naruto stepped out from the side and easily took care of the other two clones by using shuriken and kunai. They fell to the ground in puddles of water as well. "Alright, you're obviously not Hideo so let's see your real form."

In a puff of smoke Kiyomi was now standing in his place. "Guess you managed to see through my transformation, but that's not all too surprising. The whole idea was just to catch you off guard, though that failed because of that substitution jutsu."

The Jonin only nodded and got into a fighting stance. "So let me see what you've got."

Meanwhile, Hideo was still struggling to break out of his imprisonment. So far he had only succeeded in getting his right arm out. Only moments later did he see Shiden jump down from one of the trees and look to him.

"Hey, I know we're all competing for those bells, but be a good sport and let me out!" The silver haired genin only looked at him for a moment and began to walk away, but stopped and turned back. There was an odd smile showing on his face.

"Of course I'll help you out. There's no way I could just leave you behind, comrade." Hideo seemed to catch on to this strange behavior as well but said nothing as the other genin helped him out. "Oh, Hideo, I managed to get a little bit of info on that Jonin while you were fighting him. I even managed to formulate a plan for you to use."

He raised an eyebrow and looked to the silver haired boy with a confused face. "You did? A plan specifically for me to use?" Shiden nodded his head and began to whisper to Hideo's ear.

"Now, just follow that and you should manage to get a bit closer to getting one of those bells."

"Wait, why are you helping me?"

Shiden grinned and began to walk away. "Simple, the more you two fight him the more information I gain and the closer I am to getting one of those bells myself. Now, I should really get moving. I'm sure Kiyomi is fighting him right now."

Hideo didn't really pay his team mate much mind and instead looked out to where he saw Naruto leave after sinking him into the ground. "Look out blondey! I'm going to have one of those bells!"

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**Suion: Mizurappa **(Water Style: Violent Water Wave) – A water element jutsu used by Yahiko in the anime/manga. After a set of hand seals the user will expel a powerful rush of water from their mouth at their target. The force of the water can be increased or decreased depending on the amount of chakra used. This is a basic water element jutsu.

Alright guys. Hope you enjoyed that. We got to see a bit of Hideo's skills as well as Kiyomi and some weird behavior from Shiden. Hope you'll stick around for the next chapter~


	4. The Past is Not so Easily Forgotten

**Edit: Alright, second part of my triple update weekend. There's still another one to go however :+D**

Things are going pretty well so far. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

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**Blue Guardian**

**Chapter 4: The Past is Not so Easily Forgotten

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**Cover Art: **Adult Naruto is standing along side his Shippuden self and smiling. Shippuden Naruto is looking down and at his side and is shocked to see his younger self there. The youngest Naruto is rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

"So let me see what you've got."

Naruto got into his fighting stance, but he seemed to be acting a bit different from when he fought Hideo. _"The blue haired kid didn't really show any signs, I'll just have to hope Kiyomi is fine for the moment as well…"_

The genin went through another string of hand seals. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." She announced as more water rose out of the lake behind her and took the form of three more bodies, four Kiyomi in total. Naruto couldn't help but smirk as all four rushed him at once, they moved in zigzagging and confusing patterns in order to hide the location of the real kunoichi.

Once the first approached the Jonin easily caught the leg and swung the water clone into another. Upon collision they both fell to the ground in puddles of water. "The water clone technique may not be as dangerous to use as my Shadow Clones, but it has one fatal weakness. That weakness being the fact that they are nowhere near as powerful as the original body." Another clone approached this one with a kunai in hand and swinging at Naruto's chest. The blonde blocked it however with his own kunai.

It wasn't until now did his smile from earlier fade slightly. His nose seemed to be catching an odd smell from this clone. _"Something…burning?" _Not wasting a second, Naruto leaped up and pushed off the clone's chest in order to create a gap between them. It seemed his decision was just in time too; the moment he got away the clone exploded.

Once the smoke cleared he looked across the field to see Kiyomi standing there with her arms crossed. She seemed rather upset her plan hadn't gotten the Jonin. "That was a nice try I have to say. I didn't expect to see skill in both genjutsu and ninjutsu from you. Although you managed to mask the sight of the exploding note on that kunai through genjutsu you forgot about the smell of it burning."

"I made such a simple mistake. Though, you are wrong. I'm not really great at genjutsu or taijutsu. I knew a few tricks here and there, but my true skill lies in ninjutsu." She began to go through another set of hand seals, this time much longer than the jutsu before. Naruto's eyes widened as he already knew what jutsu was coming. _"There's no way she can pull of a technique like that."_

As she spoke one could see her eyes beginning to change into a bright red and an odd blood lust coming over her face. "I hoped I wouldn't have to use this technique."

Meanwhile, Hideo was jumping through the tree tops in search of Naruto. "I heard the explosion come from this way so he must be fighting Kiyomi or Shiden somewhere in this general area. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he stopped in his tracks, jumping to the ground.

As he hit the dirt the genin went into knelt down and began to clutch his right arm. _"What the hell is going on? My arm feels like its about explode!"_

As Kiyomi finished the hand seals she held the last one in place and began to gather chakra. Strangely the chakra seemed so volatile that it was swirling around her. The lake behind her seemed to be reacting too as bit of water began to float out of the surface and into the air. Naruto could only look in awe at what was being formed in front of him. When he noticed the girl's eyes and face however he seemed to catch on to something being wrong.

Before he had the chance to react however the water fell back into the lake with a heavy splash. Kiyomi went down as well right after this. Not wasting a moment, the Jonin raced across the field and began to check on her. The girl's face had returned to normal and she seemed to be doing fine.

"Guess I exhausted too much chakra trying to pull off that move." She spoke while attempting to catch her breath. Suddenly one of her hands lashed out at Naruto waist which caused the Jonin to jump away in order to preserve the bells tied to his belt.

Kiyomi slowly got back to her feet and smiled a bit. Naruto did the same. "Even in your current condition you wish to continue? In fact, you tried to use it to your advantage. Impressive, and I like that tenacity. Though I will tell you one thing right now. Never even think of using that jutsu ever again. It's not because of the chakra cost either. In fact, you know exactly why I'm telling you this."

Kiyomi's face twisted in scowl as she shot back, "No! You know exactly why I'm training hard to use this jutsu. I will master it and others just for the day when I know we'll meet again."

"You know, you remind me a lot of my old team mate and rival. He was consumed by anger for someone from his past and he let it take over his entire life. And you know what happened to him…he's dead and I couldn't do a thing to help him. Our own sensei had to be the one to strike him down." Kiyomi opened her mouth, but the words didn't manage to come out. Instead, she looked down at the ground and walked away, disappearing into the forest.

Naruto decided it was time for him to do the same as he turned away and began to walk in the direction he heard noise from. "Only one student I have yet to encounter."

Only moments later did a familiar blue haired boy land in front of the blonde. The genin was still clutching his arm and seemed ready for battle. Naruto at first narrowed his eyes no Hideo's arm but didn't say anything of it.

"Haha! Finally caught up to you. Time to kick your ass and get those bells! Seeing as Kiymoi and Shiden failed I guess I'll be the only one passing."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I haven't found Shiden yet. It's rather odd. With your time beginning to run short I thought for sure I would've encountered all of you at least once by now."

Hideo seemed a bit confused as well. "Really? After he dug me out he moved this way so I figured you two fought already. Oh well. Guess I got lucky." The genin rushed forward and swung a kick that Naruto easily avoided; this was quickly followed up by two quick punches. The first punch was avoided as well while the second one was stopped altogether by the Jonin grabbing his wrist and tossing the boy to the side.

As Hideo rolled back to his feet he pulled out a kunai and charged. "I guess I'll just have to attack that weak spot Shiden told me about earlier." Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of this 'weak spot'. As the blue haired teen approached he stabbed the kunai at Naruto's left shoulder.

The Jonin simply swatted the boy's arm away however and landed an open palm strike to his chest, causing Hideo to hit the ground. He smiled and formed a single hand seal. "Well, it seems you need more time to think over what I told you earlier. Better make it quick though, your time is running out." Hideo jumped up and attempted a swing with his blade but before he even got close the blonde's body exploded into smoke.

"Damnit! Another shadow clone!"

Just then the real Naruto got the information back from the clone that had just dispersed and smiled. Only moments later did he see Shiden jump down from a nearby tree and throw several kunai his way. Naruto side stepped this attack, but that wasn't the end to it. As the kunai flew through the air they seemed to strike a rope and split it. Once the rope had split dozens of blades flew at the Jonin from multiple directions.

As they struck, Naruto fell to the ground only to turn into a block of wood. Shiden clicked his teeth in annoyance. "Another substitution technique. I should've seen this coming."

Naruto stepped out from the trees and smiled. "Well, well, well. Glad to see you finally decided to show up. It's gotten so late in the exercise I was beginning to think you had quit or something."

The silver haired genin shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, guess that's just who I am, Unlike my brash and crude blue haired team mate, I like to take the time to plan and wait for an opportune moment." His eyes shifted to all the blades that were sitting in the ground or in the wood used for the substitution for a short moment before looking back to his sensei.

The blonde simply nodded in response to hearing this and spun a few kunai on his fingers. "So I'm guessing it was you that told Hideo something about a weakness." Shiden nodded.

"I noticed while watching you fight with Hideo that your left arm has a slightly lower reaction time compared to your right; perhaps from some sort of injury in the past. My thoughts were reinforced when I saw you go against Kiyomi a bit later. Regardless, it's a small thing that probably wouldn't help us much, but it was a worth a try."

"You have quite the eye for these sorts of things don't you?" The genin didn't respond this time. He instead threw several shuriken at the Jonin who sidestepped them. Shiden's grin suddenly widened as he began to move the fingers on his left hand in a series of odd motions.

The blades that had been sprung from his earlier trap then rose into the air and began to swirl around the Jonin in a small cyclone that prevented escape in all directions. Shiden then pulled out a pair of purple spheres from his cloak and tossed them into the cyclone. Upon contact with the blades they burst into a purple gas. "No offense, Sensei, but for a Jonin you seemed to fall into this trap pretty easily. The first trap was just a cover up as well as setup for this one."

Once the smoke had cleared the blades were still circling where Naruto once was, but the Jonin was long gone. The genin's eyes widened as he remembered something that had happened in Naruto fight against Hideo. _"He managed to escape by going underground; luckily, I was prepared for something like this as well." _

Moments later, Naruto leaped out of the ground while deflecting a pair of black tendrils with spikes on the ends with a kunai. He hit the ground and looked to Shiden. A second later a blonde girl in an elegant red and black dress climbed out of the ground as well. She had beautiful and long blonde hair that reached to her waist and fair white skin, although it was rather pale. The strangest things about this girl however would have to be the fact that she had no eyes. From these empty sockets blond continuously ran down her cheeks like tears. Besides this however was also the fact that in her right hand she held a bloody machete.

"Well, this is a surprise. Puppet users outside of Sunagakure are amazingly rare."

Shiden raised his right hand. From each fingertip one could see chakra threads running to the puppet's body. With the flick of the wrist he commanded it to rush in, machete at the ready. Once in range the doll went into a cutting frenzy.

"My first puppet and the one that will help me to forever remember that day. This is Buraddei Mari."

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**Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Clone Technique) – A canon jutsu used in the series by notable characters such as Zabuza and Kisame. Much the same like any other cloning technique however this one creates physical bodies out of masses of water. The major flaw in this technique is that despite its lower chakra cost each individual clone only has 1/10th the power of the user.

**Buraddei Mari – **Bloody Mary

Alright, hope you guys enjoyed. We get to learn a bit more about Kiyomi and Shiden though it only leads to more questions. You'll just have to keep reading if you want them answered though.

Don't forget to review, see you next update!


	5. Failure is Not an Option

**Edit: And with this the triple update weekend comes to a close. Hope everyone enjoyed it.**

Update number three~

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**Blue Guardian**

**Chapter 5: Failure is Not an Option

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**Cover Art: **Shiden is holding his hands out to the 'camera' with chakra threads extending outwards. His face is blank and emotionless, sort of like an actual puppet.

"Watch where you're going, idiot…"

Kiyomi said coldly as she got up from the ground and dusted off her clothing. Hideo jumped back to his feet as well and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I just need to catch up to the Jonin so I can pay him back double!"

Kiyomi had started to walk away into the forest, but turned around at the sound of this. "So he managed to beat you again?" It seemed to kill the blue haired genin to do this, but after a bit of hesitation he nodded his head.

"It's not fair though! He has those stupid clones, and how are fresh out of the academy genin supposed to get one of those bells?" He turned to a nearby tree and punched it with his bare fist, sending bark flying in random directions. The kunoichi's eyes widened at hearing this.

"_He's right, there's something odd about this test." _As Hideo began to walk away again Kiyomi stopped him. He opened his mouth to say something, but she managed to cut him off in time. "I have an idea."

Shiden raised his right hand. From each fingertip one could see chakra threads running to the puppet's body. With the flick of the wrist he commanded it to rush in, machete at the ready. Once in range the doll went into a cutting frenzy.

"My first puppet and the one that will help me to forever remember that day. This is Buraddei Mari."

As the doll came rushing his way with the machete Naruto pulled out a small scroll from his jacket and summoned a Fuuma Shuriken. As the two clashed the sounds of metal against metal could be heard ringing through the forest. Each time Mari swung its bloody blade the Jonin managed to counter with the still folded up shuriken.

After leaping back a few meters and creating a decent gap between them Naruto threw the massive blade towards Shiden in a curved path in order to go around his puppet. The puppeteer's face remained calm and collected however. In the middle of the shuriken's flight several black tendrils with arrowhead tips extended from Mari's back. They moved quick and precise and managed to catch the Fuuma Shuriken by its opening in the center.

Not only did this effectively stop the blade however, Shiden soon followed this up by whipping the chords around and sending the weapon back at its owner. Naruto smiled at the sight of this and leaped over the blade. As it kept on its path it managed to lodge itself into a tree behind the Jonin. As his feet touched the ground Naruto looked across the field to Shiden.

"Impressive. You seem to have a very keen eye and great chakra control for a genin. This all being obvious by the way you handle your puppet and this exercise in general."

"Thank you sensei," Shiden replied before sending Mari out on the attack again. _"For Mari's sake I have to pass this test…"_ As the blonde dodged and weaved out of the way of various attacks he managed to form a hand seal and summon a single clone. The clone rushed past the puppet and went for a straight kick at Shiden's stomach.

Shiden still managed to remain calm. Mari continued its assault on the real body, but the puppet's head quickly spun around to face the clone and from its mouth began to fire several shuriken. Although Shiden was still hit by the kick this was enough of an opening for it to be sliced by the throwing stars and disappear in smoke. Shiden seemed to realize something at this moment however and called his puppet back to his side.

A few moments later there was an explosion in the forest nearby. Shiden threw down a smoke bomb and once it cleared he had disappeared.

Back in the forest Hideo was lying on the ground with Kiyomi resting on top of him. He smiled gleefully while looking up at her. "Moving a little fast for my tastes, but I'm okay with it." She turned to him, face burning red with anger and began to pummel the blue haired boy's face into the ground.

Shiden arrived a few moments later and looked at the bloody and beaten Hideo with disdain. "Did this uncouth youth bother you Kiyomi?" At the sound of Shiden's voice Hideo's eyes shot open even after taking his beating but upon opening he caught the horrifying sight of Mari standing above him with her machete ready to decapitate him.

The kunoichi shook her head and approached Shiden who recalled his puppet. Hideo was soon to get back on his feet as well and began to crack his knuckles as he looked at his teammate. "You're lucky I don't know what that word means or I'd beat the hell out of you." The silver haired boy and Kiyomi seemed to ignore his outburst however and discussed other things.

"Yeah, he wasn't paying attention and set off some kind of trap in the forest. If I didn't push him out of the way that explosion could've done some serious harm." Shiden nodded. "Sorry, I set that for Sensei, but it seems he managed to avoid it. But the fact that you're travelling with that crass joke of a shinobi means you've realized it as well." Kiyomi nodded in response.

Hideo folded his arms and shot the two full of daggers with his eyes. "You know, if you're going talk bad about me then at least do it more quietly. Anyway, what are you guys talking about?" The other two looked towards him.

"We have to work together to get those bells." Hideo raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean work together? This is a competition for the bells!"

Kiyomi shook her head. "Regardless of what it is we have no chance of getting one of them alone. He's been holding us back this entire time without even breaking a sweat."

Shiden joined in on the explanation as well. "Besides, we don't have much time left. At this point he's just prolonging the fights in order to run down the clock. I realized that while battling him not too long ago. Even though it means not all of us will pass, at least this way we can be sure that at least one or two will." Hideo nodded as he finally seemed to understand.

"Alright, so how are we going to do this?"

Naruto stopped and leaned against one of the wooden stumps back at the starting spot. _"I haven't seen any of them in a while. Hehehe, they must be plotting something."_ A few moments later several blades rained down from the trees at the blonde's position. Naruto reacted quickly and managed to leap out of the way this attack.

A second later a familiar Fuuma Shuriken came his way from behind. Naruto leaped over it much like before, but as his feet came to the ground he could see Kiyomi in the corner of his eye finishing a set of hand seals. "Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!" The moment his feet managed to touch the ground a wave of water shot from the genin's mouth and across the field, but specifically right beneath him. It didn't take the join long to realize that his feet had been practically glue to the ground.

Kiyomi rushed in to snatch the bells but when she took hold of the Jonin it only ended up being another wooden log. Rather than being disappointed however, she smiled.

Naruto leaped out of the ground nearby and attempted to grab her but standing in fron of the girl was Hideo who stood in a similar stance from earlier. Naruot was easily prepared to dodge this however but noticed that his feet wouldn't respond to his commands.

Looking down, the blonde could see the tendrils of Buraddei Mari coiled around his legs. Before he could even make a single hand seal two more tendrils shot out, and each grabbed one of his arms.

Hideo grinned devilishly. "The other way you said to make this attack useful was to restrain you somehow. Thanks for the pointers." The blue haired genin snapped his fist forwards and hit Naruto in the chest with a powerful straight punch.

The strength of the blow was more than enough to send the Jonin flying back and into a tree trunk meters away. As Naruto stepped away from the crash site, he wiped some blood from his lips and smiled in a similar way to the blue haired teen. "Maybe it's about time I upped the difficulty for you guys."

All four shinobi got into a fighting stance just in time for the alarm on the stump to go off and signify the end of the test. Naruto dropped his guard and slowly approached the three. "Well, your time is up. It's time for me to issue the result. Which is to say that you all-"

"Wait!" Hideo cut the blonde off and pointed to Kiyomi. The kunoichi held a single round silver bell in her hands. "Don't fail all of us. Kiyomi managed to grab one of them fair and square."

Naruto began to speak, but found himself cut off once more, this time by the lucky holder of a bell. "No, this should go to Shiden or Hideo. This plan would not have been successful without either of them."

The whisker faced Jonin attempted to speak again, but was interrupted by the puppet user this time. "Regardless of how great that would be, as a gentleman, I can't accept that offer. I only helped devise the strategy. The execution all came from that reckless guy and Miss Kiyomi."

"How about you all shut it long enough for me to talk!" Naruto said with a visible vein pulsating on his forehead. The field was silent which gave him relief and the chance to finally speak. "Now, as I was saying before you all started cutting me off. All of you just passed."

The three stared at the Jonin with shock at his announcement as he continued. "You had a bit of a rocky start, but in the end you all managed to pull together as a team. The key to passing this test was teamwork, it actually didn't even matter if you got a bell or not."

"Wait, so there were less bells just so we could fight each other for your sick pleasure!" Hideo roared which caused everyone else to sweat drop.

Shiden shook his head in disappointment. "No you imbecile, the bell shortage was just there to further divide us and lead the group away from realizing the point of the exercise."

Naruto sighed, _"Although they managed to work together it seems they still can't get along." _As the two genin continued to butt heads however Naruto couldn't help but remember his days as a genin.

Kiyomi extended her hand and gave the Jonin the bell back. He smiled and pocketed the silver orb. "I didn't expect you three to actually get one though. I didn't even come close when I took this test."

Hideo only smiled triumphantly, "I told you not to underestimate me." This last comment only got him death glares from the rest of the team.

Naruto rolled his eyes and continued his explanation. "Anyway, although all of you managed to pass I want you to think on all of the ways to improve. If you want to remain genin I need you to realize your faults. I'll start with you, Hideo. At the start of the exam you threw all planning and thought out of the window. Things like this could get you as well as the rest of your team killed." The blue haired genin looked away as Naruto moved on to the next.

"Kiyomi, you did a bit better by actually planning your movements, but you worked under the assumption that the other two would just slow you down." The Kunoichi nodded in response. "And lastly, Shiden. To be honest, I'm both most impressed and disappointed in you. You let your teammates battle first and used that to plan ahead, and when the information you got wasn't enough you continued to push them. To put it simply, you tried to manipulate them like one of your puppets."

The last of the three looked to the ground at the sound of this and didn't say a word. Naruto folded his arms and decided to finish his speech. "You all have commendable skills too. Hideo is an excellent close ranger fighter for the team, Kiyomi excels in ninjutsu and mid range combat, and Shiden has a brilliant mind and keen eye as well as being a great long range combatant for the team by using his puppets."

The Jonin began to walk towards the exit of the training field while picking up his alarm clock. "We'll be meeting here tomorrow at the same time. Get some rest and a hot meal you three." As he departed the blonde threw a small scrap of paper in the wind. Hideo picked it up first and smiled.

A bit later the three could be seen exiting from a local ramen shop. "It was pretty nice of Naruto Sensei to give us that coupon to this place. And the owner seemed like he knew him pretty well."

Hideo wiped his mouth on his arms and rubbed his full stomach. "Blondey's just trying to get on my good side. He doesn't want another one of these!" He punched at the air in a similar way he had done when striking Naruto at the end of the test. The silver haired boy attempted to hit him in the back of the head, but missed horribly but ended up hitting the wall of a nearby building and fell to the floor.

Kiymoi and Hideo stopped and looked to the boy who seemed like he didn't even know where he was going. Noticing something off with him, the ninjutsu user snatched a pair of glasses from his face. Shiden began to feel around with his hands, even more lost than before. "My glasses, I can't see without my glasses!"

"You don't wear glasses…" Kiyomi said bluntly which made a light bulb go off in the mind of the puppet user. "Oh yeah, I don't, thank you Miss Kiyomi."

Hideo sweat dropped at the sight of this. _"and Blondey said he's supposed to be the brilliant one…" _As the three continued down the street Hideo stopped in his tracks at the sight of three more genin approaching.

The first was a boy in black top and red pants, but the most notable feature of this one was his hair which was in a big black afro. His headband wasn't worn, but rather stuck out from his massive hair. Next was a girl with black hair reaching down to her shoulders with a pair of bangs on either side of her face. She wore a blue top with white borders along its edges. The top ended at her midriff but the rest was covered by fishnet. Around her waist was a blue sash that billowed behind the genin in the wind, and tan shorts ended her outfit. This girl's headband was worn around her right arm.

The last of the group was a boy with short and neat white hair and a scar across his right eye. He wore an open black vest that revealed yet another scar going across his chest. At his waist were two katanas, one on each side. His headband was nowhere in sight.

Upon seeing Hideo the white haired boy began to grin and unsheathed one of his blades to hold it to the throat of the blue haired genin. "Hideo…"

Hideo didn't seem to break a sweat and matched the other genin's grin with one of his own. "Didn't expect to be seeing you again so soon…Kyoukan."

* * *

**Suiton: Mizuame Nabara **(Water Style: Starch Syrup Capture Field) – A canon ninjutsu technique used by Izumo in the series. The user will spit a stream of a sticky and water like liquid on to the ground. Anything that makes contact will be held in place by this viscous substance (hence the name)

Alright people, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Guess I'll see you all next update. Don't forget to review.


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